Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Monday 17 June 2019

South America blackout leaves tens of millions without power

By PAUL BYRNE ment, but many residents
PATRICIA LUNA of Argentina and Uruguay
Associated Press said the size of the outage
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina was unprecedented in re-
(AP) — A massive black- cent history.
out left tens of millions of "I've never seen something
people without electric- like this," said Silvio Uber-
ity in Argentina and Uru- mann, a taxi driver in the
guay on Sunday after an Argentine capital. "Never
unexplained failure in the such a large blackout in
neighboring countries' in- the whole country."
terconnected power grid. Argentine energy com-
Authorities were working pany Edesur said on Twitter
frantically to restore pow- that the failure originated
er, but by mid-afternoon at an electricity transmis-
about half of Argentina's 40 sion point between the
million people were still in power stations in Yacyretá
the dark. and Salto Grande in the
Voters cast ballots by the country's northeast.
light of cell phones in gu- Uruguay's energy compa-
bernatorial elections in Ar- ny UTE said the failure in the
gentina. Public transporta- Argentine system cut pow-
tion halted, shops closed er to all of Uruguay at one
and patients dependent A sign, which usually displays the price of various types of gas electronically, stands without pow- point and much of Argenti-
on home medical equip- er during a blackout, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sunday, June 16, 2019. na. The company said that
ment were urged to go to Associated Press some Uruguayan coastal
hospitals with generators. cities had service by early
"I was just on my way to eat By mid-afternoon, power users. curred around 7 a.m. local afternoon and blamed the
with a friend, but we had to had been restored to most Argentina's power grid is time when a key intercon- collapse on a "flaw in the
cancel everything. There's of Uruguay's 3 million peo- generally known for be- nection system collapsed, Argentine network."
no subway, nothing is work- ple. But in Argentina, only ing in a state of disrepair, but the causes were "being Argentina's secretary of en-
ing," said Lucas Acosta, a about 50% of the nation's with substations and cables investigated and are not ergy said the power failed
24-year-old Buenos Aires grid was back up and run- that were insufficiently up- yet determined." at 7:07 a.m. Only the south-
resident. "What's worse, to- ning, President Mauricio graded as power rates re- Brazilian and Chilean of- ernmost province of Tierra
day is Father's Day. I've just Macri said on Twitter, and mained largely frozen for ficials said their countries del Fuego was unaffected.
talked to a neighbor and officials from the Energy years. had not been affected. "The cause is still under in-
he told me his sons won't Secretariat were rallying to The country's energy secre- Officials were not imme- vestigation," the energy
be able to meet him." establish full service to all tary said the blackout oc- diately available for com- secretary's office said.q
Guatemalans to choose president amid distrust, flight to US

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — shenanigans, illegal party- lup Latinoamerica found
Guatemalans will vote for switching and allegations that nearly a third of Gua-
their next president Sunday of malfeasance that torpe- temalan adults surveyed
in elections plagued by doed the candidacies of believe the election will be
widespread disillusion and two of the top three candi- plagued by fraud. Another
distrust, and as tens of thou- dates. 20 percent said the elec-
sands of their compatriots Three of the last four elect- tion's legitimacy would be
flee poverty and gang vio- ed presidents have been suspect because so many
lence to seek a new life in arrested post-presidency candidates were kept from
the United States. on charges of corruption. running.
With 19 candidates in the Graft allegations have also The election marks the
race for president, and the targeted current President first time that Guatema-
winner needing an abso- Jimmy Morales and his in- lans can cast ballots from
lute majority, a runoff be- ner circle, though he de- abroad: At least 60,000 are
tween the two top vote- nies wrongdoing and has eligible to vote in Los An-
Women walk on the pedestrian path next to campaign posters getters is likely in August. been protected from pros- geles, New York, Maryland
promoting the ruling party presidential candidate Estuardo Gal- The road to this presidential ecution due to his immunity and Washington, D.C., all
damez, in Guatemala City, Saturday, June 15, 2019. election has been a chaot- while in office. home to large numbers of
Associated Press ic flurry of court rulings and A recent poll from CID Gal- Guatemalan emigres.q